Ruthlawn Elementary School

Ruthlawn Elementary School is a close-knit K-5 school in Charleston, West Virginia, part of Kanawha County Schools. The school teaches 225 students in grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 283 students per school, that is 20% smaller than typical.

Ruthlawn Elementary School is one of 61 schools operated by Kanawha County Schools, a district that educates 23,085 students overall.

Demographically, Ruthlawn Elementary School records that 88% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder comes out to 8% multiracial, 3% Asian. Compared to Kanawha County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the resource side, The school employs 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.2:1. That tracks the state average closely.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Kanawha County shows the typical household earns roughly $60,943 per year, about 30% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 12%. Across Kanawha County's 70 public schools (combined enrollment of about 25,173 students), Ruthlawn Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Richmond Elementary School, roughly 1.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Looking at the recent track record. Ruthlawn Elementary School's enrollment has declined 13% since 2018, when it stood at 260 (now 225). Over the same period, the White share ticked up from 82% to 88%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.7:1 in 2018 to 13.2:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.